Kevin Drum 🕸

It's a truism that nobody ever gets fired from a government job. But is it actually true? I was curious. The BLS tracks job separations for both private industry and the federal government, but unfortunately they don't break layoffs and discharges apart. This makes comparison difficult since the federal government doesn't really have layoffs. But ...continue reading "Raw data: The number of people fired each year"

This is Peterskirche in Vienna. It's not an especially famous church, but it's impressive for the sheer amount of Baroque festoonment that adorns it. Highly recommended for a short visit.

A month ago I wrote that Donald Trump's VP choice would be guided by what he was looking for in a running mate. Ass kissing? Retribution? General shittiness? Here was my entry for the primary virtue of the senator from Ohio: Willingness to pretend to be an idiot: J.D. Vance So I guess that's what ...continue reading "Trump chooses loyalty in his VP pick"

Sigh. This is from the Wall Street Journal today: Eviction filings over the past year in a half-dozen cities and surrounding metropolitan areas are up 35% or more compared with pre-2020 norms, according to the Eviction Lab, a research unit at Princeton University. This includes Las Vegas, Houston, and in Phoenix, where landlords filed more ...continue reading "Evictions are down since the pandemic ended"

Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, there have been the usual pleas that this was an assault of democracy and has no place in America. An assault on democracy it might have been, but political killings are as American as apple pie. In just the past century we've lived through the assassinations of John ...continue reading "Assassination is as American as apple pie"

The world has gone insane: A judge on Monday dismissed the federal indictment against former president Donald Trump on charges of mishandling classified documents — his second seismic legal victory in less than a month, following a historic Supreme Court decision on immunity. Judge Aileen Cannon has demonstrated time and again that she will do ...continue reading "Aileen Cannon demonstrates her devotion to Donald Trump, tosses charges against him"

This is just a little something to start your week out with.

The Wall Street Journal says that women are flooding the workplace, largely because of the availability of remote work: But it’s not time for a victory lap just yet. The same work-from-home opportunities that have enabled many moms in particular to enter or rejoin the workforce are also shackling them with fresh responsibilities. Many say ...continue reading "Remote work hasn’t changed women’s employment"

A new study is out that provides a variety of estimates of the number of US adults who identify as trans. All of the estimates have something in common: In one year, between 2020 and 2021, the number of young people identifying as trans nearly doubled. The effect is more pronounced among some groups than ...continue reading "Did the number of young trans people double in 2021?"

Prominent conservatives were all over Twitter yesterday blaming Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats for the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. But were prominent Democrats acting just as badly? A real glimpse from @kadiagoba at the extent to which deeply conspiratorial thinking is pretty widespread among Democratic elites https://t.co/oAlJj5aE7O — Ben Smith (@semaforben) July 14, ...continue reading "A single unknown Democrat suggested the Trump attack was staged and has apologized"

A gunman apparently tried to assassinate Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania today. Responses from the right came quickly. Noted without comment.

This is apropos of nothing in particular. I just happened to run into it this afternoon: The contribution of wives to family income steadily increased until 2010 and then leveled out. Both men and women exited the labor force following the 2010 recession, so this probably isn't due to fewer wives working. More likely it's ...continue reading "Raw data: The contribution of wives to family income"

I don't know for sure how accurate this is—it's crowdsourced—but it seems to match other estimates of housing prices in big city centers: This is one reason I'm so skeptical of urbanist arguments about American cities being uniquely expensive due to restrictive building rules and a car-centric culture. As you can see, there's nothing really ...continue reading "American cities are not unusually expensive"

The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 has gotten lots of attention lately, though it's mostly just standard movement conservative wet dreams. One interesting piece is its usual right-wing hatred of the Federal Reserve: A core problem with government control of monetary policy is its exposure to two unavoidable political pressures: pressure to print money to subsidize ...continue reading "Why are conservatives such damn gold bugs?"

Following up on my earlier post about drug price negotiation: Supply curve of drug innovation slopes up We are longtermists So we overwhelmingly care about the post-patent supply of drugs, when almost all are nearly free So barriers to drug invention are the key hurdle that matters for saving lives Thus drug price controls are ...continue reading "One more thing about prescription drugs"

Last Friday, in the wake of Joe Biden's miserable debate performance, Axios ran this blind quote: Annie, Ashley and Anthony create a protective bubble around POTUS. He's staffed so closely that he's lost all independence. POTUS relies on staff to nudge him with reminders of who he's meeting, including former staffers and advisers who Biden ...continue reading "Rep. James Comer continues his inane jihad against Joe Biden"

An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today says that Joe Biden's plan to have Medicare negotiate drug prices via the Inflation Reduction Act is a disaster. Tyler Cowen links with the following comment: "It is worth noting this kind of academic research has not been effectively rebutted, rather what you usually hear in response ...continue reading "A brief look at drug price negotiation"

This is Hilbert rolling around on our front porch. He's the true rolling cat in the family. Charlie rolls around sometimes and tolerates having his tummy rubbed, but Hilbert adores having his tummy rubbed. All you have to do is reach out and get close and he immediately starts up a roaring purr.

Here's an interesting thing. Samuel Perry recently posted a chart from his 2022 book about Christian nationalism. It basically asks if you'd be OK with manipulating election laws to ensure that your side has an easier time winning. By far the biggest agreement came from Christian nationalists: Curiously, the second highest agreement came from their ...continue reading "Who wants to cheat at elections?"

Yesterday I mentioned in passing the Producer Price Index. Here's the latest: PPI is the inflation rate of inputs to consumer goods. It's what corporations pay for the raw materials used to make the stuff they sell to us. As you can see, for a full two years PPI has averaged less than it did ...continue reading "Wholesale inflation has been low for two full years"